A newly released image from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) shows the ultraviolet glow of the Helix nebula, also called NGC 7293.
The object is what’s known as a planetary nebula, which is made from the gas and dust left over after a sunlike star dies. The dense core of the star, called a white dwarf, sits at the center of this eerie cosmic “eye.”
(via astronemma)
Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 | 171 notes
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